A Harlequin Romance
by MarshmallowSheep
Summary: Harleen is young college student focused on graduating with her Psychology degree but when her two best friends go missing a mysterious new student is there to comfort her. Batman characters in college with untraditional origin stories. Rated M to be on the safe side, no lemon
1. Introduction

They tell you it feels like the walls are closing in. They're wrong. A shrinking room would have been a welcome comfort to the cold emptiness of an open room. Even the smallest ones felt huge with a sort of tangible weight all around it. You see it's a strange sort of loneliness; the kind that consumes you, like you're falling thru the bottom of your bed into an endless black abyss.

I'm not depressed.

You might think I am but I'm not. I don't need a lot of friends, I don't need a break from my school work, I don't need a family. Or, that's what I thought at least. It's funny what your mind will convince you of.

I was drifting thru this world in a black and white haze, moving in slow motion, doing the same old routines. My days consisted of waking up in my empty apartment, sitting in traffic, then sitting at a desk listening to a lecture. Just staring at the Professor wondering why their words were becoming more and more muted, wondering when they were going to just get to the point of what they were saying. After that I'd return to that apartment, making sure to walk fast thru the dimly lit streets, to complete my assigned homework and essays that never received less than an A just to wake up the next day and do it all over again.

Sound familiar?

It should. It was normal, completely and utterly normal. So normal in fact that the boredom of it all was slowly killing me. But I didn't realize that yet because, you see, society plays these funny little tricks on you. They convince you that the more "normal" your life is the better. That by somehow doing all of these meaningless routines each day and doing everything everyone else was somehow you would be happier that way. And believe me the way I was then... I hadn't even realized those tricks of theirs had been eating away at me for years, slowly chewing away my sanity.

But that was before he saved me.

Before he showed me what it was like to live in a world full of colour and excitement, moving at full speed out of that dull and boring life. It's funny really. That I had no idea what I was missing out on before then. I would have never known if it wasn't for him. But how would I? After all how would you know what's missing if you've never had it before? Without him I'd still be stuck, sinking into the grey. He was everything I never knew I wanted.

You all know him as The Joker, an insane psychotic killer with no remorse or sympathy but I know him as my Puddin, a misunderstood loving boyfriend who just wants to see the world smile and this is how I met him.

 **Authors Note:** Thanks for reading everyone! This will be a nontraditional Harley origin story but I hope you like it. I'll also have pictures and music in later chapters, update irregularly.


	2. Daily Routines

**Authors Note:** I wanted to try to put a song that goes along with each chapter so here's Mad World by Gary Jules: watch?v=hW93CV6m-JU I kept thinking of this when I wrote daily routines it made me think of the daily races part and I felt like the song was kinda fitting because it's talking about how everyone goes in circles and their mad which I felt like is relateable for Harley being stuck in the same daily routines.

I mentioned my daily routines before, and this is really where I have to start, with my daily routines. You might it's not important but it is because this is where I started to fall. You see I was paying rent with money from a part time job at the school library, I was an A student in my last year of college at Gotham Academy ready to graduate with a BA in Psychology, I was good at staying away from what people would labeled as "the wrong crowd", I was, what you would consider, a model student.

Don't get me wrong I had hobbies too, gymnastics which I loved, but I hardly ever had time for it anymore. Not since I had started college and was completely consumed by my studies. Which was funny you know since I was originally going to be a gymnast but that's a story for another time.

Getting up at the start of the day wasn't bad at first. Especially when I had friends. That made it easier. Something to look forward to. Reasons to get out of bed each day abounded in my head. Classes, homework, work, friends, and if I was lucky some spare time.

I'd get up, pull my long brown hair up in a clean bun, throw on an ironed button up with a pencil skirt that matched my black glasses and be out the door by 7am. After that I would spend the first half of my day attending classes. When I was in between or waiting I would do my homework or study for upcoming tests.

The last half of my day was spent on working my shift at the library which was always dull. Everything was always so quiet the sound of a chair being pulled out turned every head in the library. Not that there were many heads to turn. The library wasn't exactly the "cool" place to hang out. Now and then my friends would sit in to study but it wasn't like I could talk to them or anything so it didn't really matter. After that I would drive home and walk to my apartment, always weary of the dark alleys of Gotham, and waste the rest of my night doing schoolwork and studying.

And that was it. Sometimes my friends would study with me between classes or if we had a group project to work on we would meet up outside of class but besides that that was it.

Falling asleep yet?

I bet that was boring just listening to wasn't it? And I had to live like that every day for years. Years! I skipped every party, dance, event, everything. Not that I was ever invited to anything like that anyways but I heard about them. I always heard people talking about how much fun they were having but I never put much stock into it. I thought they were stupid. Little did I know the only point in life is to have as much fun as you can.

 **Authors Note:** Sorry if that was kinda boring I promise it gets more exciting later thanks for reading guys! Don't forget to leave a comment :3 Thanks!

I'll try to have pictures later too just gotta work on them. Also I made Harleys hair brown on purpose because in the animated series she said that shes not a real blonde, she dyes her hair so I thought it'd be kinda cool to incorporate her dying it into the origin story

Also to the person who said Harley is a psychiatrist not a psychologist, thank you I know I also don't think I ever said anywhere that she's a psychologist so I think maybe the psychology major thing thru you off? I'm sorry if it did it's because you need a BA in college before going to medical school to become a psychiatrist. I know psychiatrists usually get their BA in biology or chemistry but I put her in psychology so sorry if that confused anyone. I put her in psychology instead because even though she's listed as a psychiatrist psychologists are typically the ones who talk to a patient and focus on psychotherapy which I feel like is what is going on in all of those great harley joker meeting scene whereas psychiatrists are the ones who prescribe medication so I feel like she would have had a focus in psychology to get that extra great psychotherapy training. But that's just my opinion again sorry if that confused anyone.


	3. First Friend

Oh you want to know who the friends I studied with were? Well one of them I had known since my first year of college when we got into a "who was at the top of the class" competition, or classes I should say. He was a double major in Psychology and Biology, starting off in his first year too so we had three of the same classes. We were both very serious about our studies and aimed to get a job at Akham Asylum after graduation but unlike me Jonathan was an obnoxious know it all who always made sure to raise his hand first in class and push up his glasses before giving an answer for added effect.

Needless to say neither of us liked each other at first. He had this pompous attitude about him, like he genuinely thought he was smarter and better than everyone else. When I first asked to form a study group with him he shot my offer down the second I started to speak the words. It wasn't until the end of the year when we tied scores in our classes that Jonathan finally gave up and became my friend. After that we signed up for as many classes as we could together and stayed after school twice a week to study together.

It was nice to have a friend, someone to talk to even though he was fairly quiet. The only time Jonathan took the time to speak was to discuss class or insult someone. Because of that everyone pretty much stayed away from him. They weren't to friendly to me either. Nobody wanted to hang out with a quiet teachers pet and I didn't really care to talk to those slackers either. I understood why Jonathan was so hesitant to make friends, they just wanted a free ride thru class after all. A free pass from the top students. Because of this I had decided to take Jonathans lead and not make any more friends, not like I really tried in the first place, but we had both decided to not add anyone to our study group. That is, until we met her.


	4. Her

Another top student, but instead of studying psychology like me and Jonathan Pamela was a botany major. A subject that I never would have taken if I didn't have to for more extracurricular work and a mistake in my schedule. But I guess I was glad I got stuck in the class anyways. I think it was my second year or maybe my third I don't really remember but I do remember that I was failing, something I wasn't used to. That was where Pamela really came in, she helped me a lot without me even asking, it was the first time anyone had ever done something like that for me. I didn't trust her at first, figured she was just trying to use me like everyone else but after her consistently bugging me each and every day I finally gave up and partnered up with her for everything.

Red was really special to me. Red? That was my nickname for her because she had this really nice long red hair. I never gave anyone a nickname before but she gave me one so I thought I should return the favor, if that's what you could call it.

It was kinda fun having nicknames for each other. Jonathan never caught on, always called us by our full names. He was always formal like that. Actually it was pretty amazing he even called us by our first names everyone else in his book was only called by their last names.

But anyways Red was special to me. Even though I met Jonathan first I felt closer to her than I ever had to anyone. She went out of her way to befriend me. Pretty soon I had her studying with me and Jonathan, she fit in just great.

She was probably the most outgoing one out of the three of us. Always talking to people and offering them help when they clearly didn't deserve it. Red was always like that, sweet to everyone, quiet but in a different way than me and Jonathan. Not serious just mildly spoken I guess. I'm not really sure how to put it she was just nice to everyone but wasn't obnoxiously loud. I guess that's why we got a long so well.


	5. Dissappearance

When the three of us were all together. That was what I would have chosen as the best part of my life before I met my puddin. Everything seemed kinda perfect for a while in that black and white world. A little off still but better than it had ever been and more than I ever asked for. What you would label as "depression" still hit me at times but I always felt better when I got to see them. It was nice having friends. Or at least that's what I thought.

It was our last year there that things started to get weird. Jonathan and Pamela started to hang out together more often, you know without me. At first I thought it was nothing but when it became daily I knew something was up. I thought they were dating, maybe they were I don't know. I knew Red had liked him from the start, always blushing whenever he said anything to her and as blunt and rude as Jonathan was I knew he always had a soft spot for her. Or grew one at least, I'm pretty sure he was annoyed we had another member in our study group at first but he warmed up to her way quicker than he did with me.

Anyways what I'm trying to say is I always knew they sort of like each other and I wouldn't have cared if they were dating but they never said anything to me. It made me feel... lonely. I hated that feeling more than anything in the world.

I tried to focus on school more but for some reason I started seeing them less and less everyday until they stopped showing up completely. I knew Red was depressed the last time I saw her, something about one of her favorite parks being torn out by the Wayne company. I felt bad, you know because I know how much plants and stuff meant to her, but I didn't really know what to do to help. I mean it's not like the plants could just get up and walk away to save themselves but I don't think that was what she wanted to hear from me. I tried to talk to that Bruce guy but he was a jerk. Said he'd look into it but I could tell he didn't care. He was always strutting around the school with girls falling all over him but me and Red never fell for stupid stuff like that.

I didn't really care that he was a jerk to me but being a jerk to Red when she tried to talk to him about that park? It made me hate him. Nobody ever made Red cry, I mean nobody, nobody was ever mean to her. I think that was around the last time I saw her. It kinda made me think she was just too depressed to come to school and maybe Jonathan was comforting her. Maybe they were dating or something. I didn't really care I just wanted to know because after that they sort of just disappeared.


	6. What Happened to Red

It was during that time that things started to become extra hazy. Days blended together, then weeks, and I couldn't really remember anything to specific about the time that had passed. Those daily routines came back worse than ever and I felt like my friends had abandoned me. I even wondered if they had left Gotham without inviting me. I mean it's not like this is the most fantastic place in the world to live just look at it, you'd have to be crazy to move here. That's why I moved here, to work with all the nuts, after all there's plenty of them.

But anyways they were gone for a long time. I mean I guess it wasn't really but it felt like it. Maybe even longer than it. And that was when I first met him.

Jack.

Just Jack. That was it, no last name, no classes, no nothing. And he was perfect, absolutely perfect.

Of course I didn't know that yet. I was so stupid I almost ruined everything. I was walking to class each day in such a zone I barely noticed him. It was kinda funny how he got there, just sort of appeared one day like a guardian angel.

At first it started with the flyer. Just a simple flyer some guy was handing out on campus. I would pass him each day on my way to class not really paying any attention to anything in particular just stuck in my own little world of grey. I saw some guy passing out flyers in my peripheral vision so I took one. Without saying anything, without looking at him, took one and stuck it in my bag. It was like that for a while I think. I just kept taking the same flyer cause I never really looked at him ya know? I didn't really care so I just kept taking it. I thought it was different people I guess. I never even looked at it to see what it was.

It went like that for weeks. It wasn't until the announcement that I talked to him. The announcement that Red was dead.


	7. Swallowing a Rock

At first I felt hope. Jonathan suddenly came back and I thought Red would be with him, she should have been with him. I was so happy to see him anyways but he ignored me, acted like we had never even been friends. Then our professor made the announcement. Red had been found dead in the park, you know that one that she really cared about. I felt so dumb for never looking there. I was sad that Jonathan, my only other friend was ignoring me. I was mad at him, almost blamed him like her death was somehow his fault and I felt this weird pain in my chest that I didn't know I was capable of feeling.

It was a strange feeling like I swallowed a big rock or something and I couldn't really get it to go down right. It was different to my constant numbness and happened almost immediately when I found out Red was gone for good. It hurt. Bad. Even worse than when I found out I couldn't do gymnastics any more. Even more than I had been feeling the past couple of weeks they had been gone and no matter how much I tried to ignore that rock it wouldn't go away.

I started slipping even more than. Little things like forgetting extra pencils, not hearing that I was called on, leaving a textbook at home. Stuff that I never did. I would frantically search my bag like it was the end of the world like for some dumb reason that stuff actually mattered. But it didn't. And the more I started to realize that the more everything seemed pointless.

I never went to her funeral, actually I'm not even sure if she ever had one. Jonathan acted like nothing ever happened, just went back to the way he had always been, studying like everything was normal and I never met her parents or any family. But I guess I didn't really want to go anyways even if she did have one. I wouldn't have been able to handle it I think.

You see I never cried when I found out because that was just something I never did. Ever. Jack was the first person to see me cry and I think I might have been the first person to see him cry, maybe even the only one.


	8. Jack

And Jack is really all I wanted to talk about anyways. All of that other stuff is boring and I don't care about it anymore. All I care about is my puddin! I mentioned how I had been taking flyers for him right? I think I did. He started out as just some random guy I passed my way to class that I didn't pay any attention to. I kept trying to keep it that way but for some reason one day I didn't make it to class. I'm still not sure what happened but for some reason on my way past his usual area I sat down on a bench and started crying.

At first I didn't notice him, which is pretty dumb cause he had this bright green hair, but I didn't really notice I was crying either so I guess it was okay. He sat right next to me, putting an arm around me and said, "There there it's okay", like it was the most normal thing to do in the world. I mean can you believe it! I never even met the guy before and he was nice just like that for no reason at all.

Normally I would have brushed someone off for doing something like that, just walked off without a word but I think I was to... sad. I lost my only two friends in the world and had never really let myself feel it. I kept tucking it away so I could keep walking around in my little bland bubble. I didn't know how to control my emotions yet because well I had never really done anything to make myself feel any emotions.

I ended up crying on his shoulder for who knows how long until I finally started to stop and sniffle. He handed me a purple handkerchief, I think from his sleeve or something but I'm not really sure cause I was still kinda out of it. I blew my nose into it while he talked.

"Why is such a pretty girl like yourself crying her eyes out?"

I couldn't believe it. Nobody had ever called me pretty. I know that's probably surprising because of how pretty I am now but back then with my brown haired bun, slacks, button up, and glasses I was just miss plain Jane. When I didn't answer he kept talking.

"Come on don't let 'ol goofy eyes and red head get to ya", he said putting his hands around his eyes like glasses when he said goofy eyes.

I assumed he meant Jonathan and Red. He must have seen the three of us around, you know since we used to always be together. I also realized he probably didn't know Red was dead since he was acting so casual about it. He must have thought we were all fighting or something and I really didn't feel like talking about Red dying so I just let him think that.

I guess he finally realized I was still sorta in shock and didn't know what to say so he pulled a rose from his sleeve and handed it to me.

"Cheer up", he said, "life's to short to be sad."

He got me. I cracked and smiled. Just a little bit but it was more than I ever usually did and for some reason it seemed to make his day. He jumped up and stood on the bench with his arms in the air.

"Eureka! I finally got someone to smile!"

I got kinda scared when he did that and so I told him to sit down and be quiet after looking around in every direction to see if anyone was staring. Looking back I feel really stupid for doing that but I was worried someone would go report him for disturbing the campus or something or that I just felt embarrassed to be seen next to him and his sudden outburst. I mean you know how Gotham University is, everyone there has a stick up their butt.

He looked at me all confused when I started waving at him to sit down but he did anyways.

"What's the problem", he asked.

I explained how someone walking by would probably tell on him for yelling like that which for some reason made him laugh. It was kinda weird to see someone laugh like that I wasn't used to it. He looked so happy doing it like nothing in the world bothered him. In fact he always looked like that like he was happy all the time. It made him really nice to be around.

"See all these idiots walking by?" He pointed in a sort of waving motion at the students. "They won't say anything. They don't want anything to upset their "perfect little world". You can keep that by the way", he said pointing at the rose.

It was plastic. It was also the most beautiful thing anyone had ever given me. It ended up being my most prized possession. I'd still have it now if it wasn't for the fire, but I'll get to that later.

I asked him why he was being so nice to me, I mean most people don't just do things without a reason you know they usually want something from you and I wanted to know what it was but for some reason he just shrugged and put his hands behind his head so he could lay it on the back of the bench with his legs all stretched out over the side walk blocking everyone's way.

"I hate seeing people cry. I knew you would feel better if I could get you to smile."

And with that he closed his eyes like he had already drifted off into the most peaceful sleep of his life. I was just sitting there staring at him, staring at he rose, then him, then the rose, then him again. I felt like I needed to say thank you. I also felt like he should say something else after all that instead of just taking a nap on the bench which I was pretty sure wasn't allowed so I ended up just saying "thank you. It smells wonderful."

I guess that was what he was looking for, the right thing to say I mean, cause he immediately smiled this cute little crooked smile and opened one eye to look at me. There was something so cute about the way he looked laying on the bench like that with one eye open smiling at me. I couldn't even believe it at first because my heart did something I never knew it could do, something I only read about in books. It fluttered.

Maybe it was because I was lonely or how sweet he was to me or that cute guys never took the time of day to talk to me but for some reason I liked him right off the bat. It was only for a few seconds before he jumped back into a regular sitting position all animated and awake again.

"You know I like you you're not like the rest of them. What's your name?"

"Harleen Quinzel. But my friends call me Harley."

"Harley... it's got a nice ring to it. Has anyone ever told you that your name sounds like..."

I cut him off then. I know that's rude but I had already heard it before well not really heard it so much as read it in school. I always wasted time reading the full textbooks.

"Harlequin", I said, "an Italian originated character similar to a clown or a jester used in theater."

"Close enough", he said with a shrug, "I've always been a fan of harlequins. Mischievous as a trickster, light hearted as a... well I'm not really sure."

"I see you did your research", I said. I was actually pretty impressed most people either never heard of it and if they did only recognized the name but didn't really know what it was but it was usually like that with everything. Nobody ever did their research like me so I was really impressed that he did too even it was for something kinda stupid. That was when I realized I was still talking to a complete stranger I mean I didn't even know his name or anything.

"You know my name now what's yours", I asked.

"Hmmm...", he said as if he were thinking about it, "you can call me Jack."

 **Authors Note:** Sorry for the super long chapter, sort of did this on purpose because she said that she mostly wanted to talk about Jack so I felt like his chapter should be longer. Hopefully everyone knows where I got his name from :) Also if anyone knows some history about harlequins they're typically the cheerful sidekick to a clown, pretty fitting right?


	9. What was Missed

And that was how I met Jack. After that we started hanging out pretty much every day. It was weird too because even though everything was still the same old boring stuff having him meet me at the school and walk me to class made it all so much more bearable. It was like taking off a corset after wearing it for a full day and taking a long deep breath. And the air tasted good. I wanted more of it.

We became friends way faster then I did with Red or Jonathan it was just so easy to talk to him about things I didn't even know I wanted to talk about. Things I never knew anyone would care to hear. You see I always listened to all my teachers, my friends, students asking for help in the library, but nobody ever listened to me. Jack was the first one. And the more I talked the more comfortable I felt around him.

Red had been my best friend but something about Jack was different and it wasn't just his hair. But I did love his hair, I still do, I mean how many people do you meet have bright green hair like that and with piercing green eyes to match. And of course there was his cute little sideways smile he wore everywhere he went. But it wasn't just how attractive he was itt was his personality. He was happy all the time like nothing in the world could ever get him down. He was always so relaxed and never stressed or worried about anything. A complete and utter contrast to me.

I was always thinking about my grades and schoolwork, what needed to be done that day, what needed to be done for the rest of the week but being around Jack and that relaxed air around him made me start to forget about those things. Every time I was around him it was like everything was perfect just for those few minutes. It had to be minutes because I knew if I spent any more time with him then I did in between classes and walking me to my car when school was over I would want to spend more time with him. And if I spent more time with him I was afraid that I would forget to do my homework.

He never asked to hang out any more than that anyways. We were both content like that I guess or for the time being anyways. He was always waiting for me outside of my classroom door to walk me to the next class. It was nice. Eventually I gave him my phone number and I guess that's when my schooling finally started to go down. Because you see once he had my number he called all the time. I mean _all_ the time.

At first it was a little annoying, as perfect as our time was together, because I had things that I needed to get done, you know dumb things that I actually thought were important, but I could never get him to hang up because I didn't want to be rude or make him feel bad so I would just stay on the line. It went on like that for a couple of weeks, staying up later than I was used to to make up for lost study time and I guess at some point I started loosing sleep because one night I passed out and overslept. When I finally did get in to class the next day something happened that had never happened before. I missed a test.

 **Authors Note:**

Happy Halloween!


	10. Who to Blame

Of course I was hysterical about it. I never ever ever missed a test. But that wasn't even the worst part about it. There were no makeups. No matter what I said to the professor they wouldn't make an exception for me. It made me mad. Incredibly mad. Madder than I had felt in a long time. I couldn't believe that after all of that hard work I did, all of the A's, the perfect attendance, the extra credit, and my professor wouldn't make one little exception for me? It was ridiculous. And poor Jack... well I ended up taking out all of my anger on him.

I realize now that it was stupid and unfair of me I mean after all it was completely my fault. I should've just told him I had to go so I could get my sleep but when it happened I blamed him. I stormed out of class looking for him which wasn't hard because he was sitting on a planter right outside the door like he always was. Not even on the bench right next to it, the planter.

"I missed my test! I failed it because of you and now I won't be the top of the class anymore! It's all your fault! You kept me up with all of your stupid phone calls, you kept me from studying and sleeping because you're selfish! I never want to see you again!"

After I yelled in his face, in front of all of the other students, I ran to my car as fast as I could trying not to cry. I know this seems silly to be so upset of something so stupid but when I was there it meant the world to me. One ding like that and it messed up my perfect score that I had sacrificed all of my time for. I guess I was just in disbelief that something I had worked so hard for could be ruined in the snap of a finger.


	11. Apology

When I got to school the next day Jack was standing there waiting in the same spot he always did, leaning against a wall smiling at me like nothing ever happened.

"Hey Harley", he said, "how ya doin today?"

At first I was mad at him. I thought he was trying to act like what happened wasn't a big deal, like it didn't even matter to him. So I tried to ignore him, just walk by without saying anything, but when he started walking with me like normal and asking how the day was going so far I flipped out and yelled at him again. I blamed him for everything of course, even thought it was completely my fault but when I yelled at him again and I really payed attention to his face I suddenly felt really really bad.

"Harley I'm so sorry I wasn't trying to make it seem like I don't care about your feelings. Of course I do! You see I was just trying to let you know that even though you yelled at me I'm your friend and I'll always be here for you no matter what."

At that point I was still pretty mad but he looked so sad and he sounded so sincere when he apologized, I wanted to believe him more than anything in the world because what he said wasn't just an apology. It was a promise. An offer. A friend that would always be there no matter what.

That was more than anyone else had ever offered me. Jonathan stopped talking to me for no reason and Red well Red was dead and even she had started to become elusive and started ignoring me before her death. And really hadn't Jack already been proving his loyalty by always being there waiting for me without me ever having to ask? But like I said I was still pretty mad so instead of accepting his apology I said,

"Well that's a pretty dumb way of showing it."

"I'm sorry I'm not very good with social cues. I didn't have a lot of friends growing up, all the other kids always teased me."

"Did you ever think it might have been your green hair? I don't know if you noticed or not but that's pretty uncommon around here."

"Oh this", he said touching it and looking up like he forgot his hair was dyed, "this is somewhat new, my dad never would have let me do something like this."

"Strict parents?"

"Oh you have no idea he used to... woops don't want to start bombarding you with all my crazy family stories."

And that's when it hit me. Jack had let me talk about myself so much that he never really told me anything about him. I didn't know anything about his past but I wanted to especially now, now I was curious.

"No no that's okay I want to hear your stories, all of your stories."

"Oh I don't know... they're not pleasant. Besides I wouldn't want to talk your ear off again."

"No really it's fine. That's what friends are for right."


	12. Jacks Past

I guess in the end my curiosity won over my anger because when I met with him after class I didn't yell at him again. I just wanted to listen to him.

"You mentioned your father before, that he would never let you dye your hair like that. I think that's fairly normal for around here though isn't it?"

"Yeah", he said nonchalantly shrugging his shoulders, "I guess it was more of the way he went about it."

"And how did he go about it?"

"Well he would... are you sure you want to hear this? You know I don't talk about this to anyone. I'm trusting you with this."

"Yes of course. You can trust me."

"Thank you Harley, it feels so good to have a loyal friend like you. All the kids I went to high school used to bully me."

"How come?"

"I don't know. I guess I just wasn't popular or something."

"That's no reason to bully someone."

"I know but the other kids didn't seem to think so. They would push me into lockers and leave me in there the whole day till the janitor let me out."

"That's horrible."

"I guess I started to get used to it. Getting pushed into lockers, getting homework stolen, getting beaten up. A lot of people would spread rumors about me too so when I tried to make friends with decent people they didn't want anything to do with me. I even had a few people follow me around the school so they could push me down every staircase and shove my head into every drinking fountain. I was always looking over my shoulder afraid that someone was there waiting to hurt me."

"Why didn't you tell anyone what they were doing?"

"I tried but no one would listen to me. Somewhere along the way I got branded as a liar and for some reason not even the teachers would listen to me. I guess I felt like there was nothing I could do. I never fought back, I never wanted to hurt anyone, and nobody would listen to me."

"It's okay Jack I'll listen to you."

"Thank you it feels so good to talk about this, I've never been able to confide this to anyone."

"I really appreciate having your trust. What those other kids did to you was unfair and cruel and they should have been punished for it.

"I know I've been trying to get over it but sometimes I guess I feel like it affects things now like not being able to take social cues well. I never really had any practice with having friends before."

"It's okay you have a friend now and I'm not going anywhere."

After that Jack went into more detail about the kids who bullied him and I felt so honored to be trusted with his biggest secrets not to mention he was so interesting to listen to. And that was only after hearing about his high school, before the big guns came out and he told me about his family.


End file.
